Our friend Hame has graced us with invitations to parties on a number of ocassions this past year, including for the holiday of Eid ul-Adha, which has had more exposure to folks recently through the issuing of a U.S. postal stamp along with the traditional & non-traditional Christmas and kwanzaa holidays stamps at the end of the year. Eid celebrates an Old Testament story that is central to the Judeo-Christian-Moslem genesis, that of Abraham obeying Yahweh/God/Allah's request that he sacrifice his son Isaac/Ismael. Wikipedia has a better explanation of the holiday than my note above - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Adha

After a solemn clasping of hands and prayer of thanks as we gathered around a table of food - a lamb dish being the centerpiece - we commenced to celebrate in a rather lively, not so traditional, fashion, dancing salsa, merengue, cha-cha, tango, samba, mambo, disco, and whatever else we had on hand.